Sunny, with highs in 80s for Las Vegas

By Dave Toplikar

Tuesday, April 5, 2011 | 5:24 a.m.

A mostly sunny day is in store for the Las Vegas Valley, with afternoon temperatures climbing into the low 80s, according to the National Weather Service.

Mild weather under a departing area of high pressure can be expected today before a weak low pressure system and considerable moisture move across the region Wednesday, the weather service said.

That will be followed by a cold and powerful storm moving in from the West coast, forecasters said.

Strong winds are expected to develop ahead of the system across the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains and much of the Mojave Desert Wednesday night and Thursday, they said.

Gusts greater than 40 mph, possibly in excess of 60 mph are possible late Wednesday afternoon across Inyo and San Bernardino counties in California, forecasters said. The high winds will spread east into southern Nevada and northwest Arizona Wednesday night through Thursday, they said.

Driving conditions will be difficult for high profile vehicles and lead to area of blowing dust and sand, reducing the visibility to under a mile at times, forecasters said.

A good chance of precipitation with dramatically cooler temperatures — around 20 degrees below normal Friday and Saturday — will then be in store for the entire region, they said. Conditions will improve late in the weekend as the storm moves east into the Rockies, forecasters said.

At 4:56 a.m. today, the temperature at McCarran International Airport was 53 degrees. The normal low for today's date is 51 degrees. The record low was 32 degrees, set in 1945.

Around the valley just before 5 a.m., temperatures were 53 degrees at North Las Vegas Airport, 49 degrees at Nellis Air Force Base and 49 degrees at Henderson Executive Airport.

Temperatures in the valley were to rise today to 62 degrees by 9 a.m., to 73 degrees by noon and reach a high of 82 degrees by 4 p.m., forecasters said. The normal high for today's date is 75 degrees and the record high was 94 degrees, set in 1960.

Temperatures are expected to be 82 degrees at 6 p.m., then drop to 73 degrees by 9 p.m. and to 68 degrees by midnight, forecasters said.

Wednesday's morning low will be 63 degrees and Wednesday's high will climb to 75 degrees, they said.